The arm of a convicted rapist was found on Dollymount Strand, in North Dublin, having been dumped at sea. Irish police are now searching for the site where the career criminal and sex offender James Nolan (46) was tortured and murdered.

Nolan's arm was found on the beach in February, where it washed ashore, but has just been identified. A source told the Evening Herald "Someone had it in for Nolan. It looks like he suffered a horrendous death…His arm was hacked off at the shoulder and his fingertips cut off to hamper identification."

Nolan had not been seen by his family since his release from prison in 2005.

A police spokesperson confirmed that Nolan's arm was identified using DNA analysis, with the cooperation of Interpol.

Nolan was released from prison in July 2005 having served three years for a burglary in Booterstown, South Dublin. The police caught him using a finger print which they had on file after he was detained for rape 19 years earlier. He also held convictions for larceny and road traffic offences.

In 1988 Nolan had been convicted of rape and the false imprisonment of a woman in 1986. He served 14 years in prison.

Nolan had not been listed as a missing person. His parents have died and his family from Fairlawn Road, Finglas, in west Dublin, declined to comment about the discovery.

Previously Judge Katherine Delahunt had noted in a probation report that Nolan showed a high risk of re-offending due to his alcohol and drug problem. Back then she suspended the final 18 months on his jail sentence for burglary and ordered that he receive alcohol and drug treatment.